Messaging a seller: how chat works and what you can send

If you have a question about a product, you do not have to leave a review and wait. Dona gives you a separate chat with every shop: you write, the seller answers, and the whole thread is kept in “Messages”. This article explains how chat works and how to use it well.

Where a thread starts#

Product pages and shop pages both carry a “Message seller” button, and an order page has “Contact seller”. Tap either and the conversation with that shop opens. If you have written before, the old thread opens — a second one is not created.

Every conversation is collected under “Messages”. Each row shows the shop name, the last message and its time. When the last message was not plain text, the list names its type instead — “Photo”, “Product”, “Order” or “Voucher”.

Inside a thread you can tap the shop name and use “View shop” to open its page. So you can ask a question and browse the rest of the range at the same time.

What you can send#

Beyond plain text, three more things can end up in a thread, and each of them sharpens the question:

• A product — start the chat from a product page and that product’s card is added to the thread for you, so the seller knows exactly which item you mean.
• An order — start the chat with “Contact seller” on an order page and the order is attached for you, which helps with delivery or return questions.
• A photo — sent with the photo button inside the thread, to show the condition of what arrived, for example.

So inside a thread only a photo is attached by hand: if your question is about a specific product or order, start the chat from its page.

Your own messages carry a tick: one tick means sent, two light-blue ticks mean read. Once the seller has read your latest message, “Seen” and the time appear under it. While the seller is typing a reply, “typing…” appears just above the message box.

Finding an older message#

When a thread grows long, there is a search inside it. Type a word into “Search in chat” — a product name, or “size” — and the app shows the matching messages. Messages are grouped by day, so the “Today” and “Yesterday” markers help you place things too.

This matters for remembering what was agreed: if size, colour or a delivery time were discussed, it is all still in the thread.

How quickly a reply arrives#

Dona measures how quickly and how often sellers answer in chat. Answering quickly is therefore in the seller’s own interest.

Even so, a reply may not be instant: the seller may be on a live stream or packing orders. Some shops have an auto-reply or saved replies set up, so the first message may come from there before a person writes.

Ask once and ask precisely: which product, which size, which city. A short, specific question gets a faster answer.